Two Faced Killer

Chapter 3: Cause of Failure

"Where...where is he?" Len felt his voice falter slightly. Sarah put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"Sources suggest that the Cause of Failure is currently hiding out in a small town just north of your current position," the woman on the other end said, "I'm emailing you an address. Arrive there to receive the rest of your instructions."

Len hung up. He furrowed his brow and threw his phone onto the sofa.

"You should go," Sarah said slowly. Len nodded, pressing a hand against his forehead.

"I don't even know why somebody would want to hurt him," Len muttered, sitting down on the sofa. Sarah sat down beside him.

"The world is full of horrible people, Len," she whispered, "Even the two of us...we're horrible in our own way."

"He was a good kid, Sarah," Len frowned, "What did Oliver ever do to anybody? Nothing, that's what."

Sarah watched Len's expression change from anger to sadness, back and forth. His eyes darted around the room, never settling on any one thing for longer than a second. His jaw was taut and she could tell that he was gritting his teeth.

"He was like a brother to you, wasn't he?" She said softly, "I heard that you used to teach him."

Len nodded. Sarah's words floated past him. Right now, he was focused on devising ways of making the Cause of Failure suffer.

"He's gone," Len said finally bitterly, "He's gone, and he's never coming back."

Len stood up suddenly and pocketed his phone. "I'm leaving," he said sharply, "I'm going to track down that bastard and I'll make him pay."

"Don't make it personal, Len," Sarah followed Len to the door, "It's just another job, right?"

Len shook his head. "It became personal the moment he decided to kill Oliver," he said. His voice had taken on the same hard and icy tone that it had with John, "Crypton's telling me to do this because they know I take it personally."

Sarah couldn't argue with him. Len Kagamine was intelligent, young, a bit of a playboy, but above all else, he was cold and stubborn. He solved his problems with a deadly brand of efficiency that no one in Crypton could match. If she tried arguing with him, he would just leave her and move onto the next girl willing to throw herself in harm's way for him.

Or she'd end up making him angry and he'd kill her. Crypton would forgive him; they couldn't just get rid of their best agent because he killed a lower one.

"Alright," Sarah said, exhaling. She put her hand against Len's face and kissed him, "Be careful."

Wordlessly, Len turned away and headed towards his car. He got in, slammed the door shut, and drove away.

Sarah wondered if he would ever return. She crossed her arms and sighed, leaning against the doorway. She wondered if he would turn around and come back. She wondered if he would stop the car and tell her to come along. Maybe she could be of help.

But he wouldn't do any of that. She knew better.